Wednesday 25th June 2014
As we descended into Marrakech the sun glimmered in a red haze as it set. The desert sand colouring the sky its unique colour. The landscape of fields and dirt roads look like the path of water as it cuts through a dusty floor.
Lara my beautiul girlfriend gripped my hand, our England daydream finally a reality. As we stepped out the plane we were greeted by the balmy 26 degree night air, tantilisingly foreign.
We quickly passed through customs and got into a taxi to our hotel. Immediately our language barrier was up, and we instantly regretted not atleast glancing at an Arabic or French phrasebook. Unfortunately once the driver had latched onto our clear foreigness we got the tourist price, well over double that of the normal fare, ending up costing us 100Dh (£7.50). Although not much by british standards, it was virtually robbery by Morrocan. The first of many such pricing lessons. Though it wasnt going to dim our enjoyment, as we drove down the palm tree lined streets, feeling like an african LA.
Our taxi driver pulled us into hotel Almas, we could hardly believe it was our hotel. The bell by took our bag and the concierge greeted us (thats right a bell boy and a concierge!). Our shopping around had paid off, we both made ourselves look less bedragled, as if this was the standard of accomadation we were accustomed to, while quietly bickering as to whether you actually were meant to tip bell boys or whether that was just a film stereotype.
Once we had dumped our belongings in our sumptous room and had done several eagle dives onto our bed (easily big enough for 4, so much so it was difficult to reach each other if lying on opposite sides), we headed into the night. The corners all bustled with cafe owners and patrons alike taking long deep drags of cigarettes and wooping at the world cup that was playing in the background. After a maze like walk we settled on a small clean cafe, that was busy enough to show it was good, but not so busy that we couldn't find a table.
We ate shawarma (Iron man's favourite food) basically a grilled kebab, sides and drinks for 68Dh between us! (£5ish) and then waddled to the fruit stall and bought figs so ripe and sweet that I carried the flavour with me into my sleep.
